Board of Directors

Julie M. Kane has served as a director of SIGA Technologies, Inc. (“SIGA”) since May 2019. She currently chairs SIGA’s Compensation Committee and formerly chaired SIGA’s Nominations and Corporate Governance Committee. She is currently an independent consultant in the aviation industry. Ms. Kane is the former Senior Vice President, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, and Deputy General Counsel of PG&E Corporation (2015-2020). Prior to joining PG&E Corporation in 2015, Ms. Kane worked at Avon Products, Incorporated as Vice President and General Counsel of Avon North America and Corporate Legal Functions. Prior to joining Avon in 2013, Ms. Kane held a number of senior roles with Novartis Corporation and its affiliates over a 25-year period. Ms. Kane is a member of the Board of Directors of the Ethics Resource Center in Washington, D.C., and formerly served on the Board of Governors of the Commonwealth Club of California. Ms. Kane holds an undergraduate degree in political science from Williams College and a law degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law. Ms. Kane is a member of the California state bar. Ms. Kane’s decades of experience spanning several industries, including pharmaceuticals, chemicals and agribusiness, beauty, direct-selling and dual-fuel utilities, along with her experience in environmental, social and governance matters, provides our Board with valuable insight into many aspects of our business.

Paddy Padmanathan is a seasoned engineering and energy expert with over 40 years of experience. He is the President and CEO of ACWA Power, having spearheaded its expansion from a startup in 2006 to a leading private developer, owner and operator of power generation and desalinated water production plants today.

Prior to joining ACWA Power, Mr. Padmanathan was Vice President and Corporate Officer at Black and Veatch, where he was responsible for developing privately financed power, water and wastewater projects in over a dozen countries. Before that, Mr. Padmanathan was the Chief Executive of Black & Veatch Africa Limited and an Executive Director of Burrow Binnie International Ltd. Mr. Padmanathan began his career as an Engineer at John Burrow and Partners Overseas.

Mr. Padmanathan holds a degree in Engineering from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, and in addition to his executive responsibilities at ACWA Power, also serves on the board of directors of several companies involved in power and water development across the globe, including BESIX, XLink Ltd and Desolenator BV.

Phyllis Newhouse is an entrepreneur, retired military senior non-commissioned officer, mentor, founder and Chief Executive Officer of XtremeSolutions, Inc., an Atlanta-based cybersecurity firm (“XSI”), and a founder of ShoulderUp, a nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting and supporting women on their entrepreneurial journeys.

XSI offers services to organizations in both government and private sectors. While serving in the United States Army on various assignments, Ms. Newhouse always focused on national security. Ms. Newhouse worked on several projects, which outlined the Cyber Espionage Task Force. After her service in the army, Ms. Newhouse decided to shift her focus to entrepreneurship and founded XSI in 2002. Today, XSI offers a wide range of IT expertise and provides industry leading, state-of-the-art information technology and cybersecurity services and solutions. XSI has employees in 42 states, with 40% of its workforce made up of veterans.

Ms. Newhouse leverages over 30 years of experience to identify, invest in and mature differentiated technology teams. Ms. Newhouse currently serves on the board of directors for multiple cybersecurity product companies and technology organizations, such as Technology Association of Georgia and Business Executives for National Security. She also serves on the executive board and is a member of the Women President Organization. Ms. Newhouse also serves on the Board of Directors of Girls Inc., a nonprofit organization that encourages all girls to be “Strong, Smart, and Bold.” In April 2021, Ms. Newhouse joined the Board of Directors of Sabre GLBL Inc.

Ms. Newhouse is known as a pioneer in cybersecurity. She has received numerous awards as an industry thought leader. In 2017, Ms. Newhouse became the first woman to win an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year® award in the technology category. Additionally, XSI received inclusion in the Inc. 5000 list in 2013, 2014, and 2017 and has been recognized as one of Women’s Presidents’ Organization’s 50 Fastest Growing Women-Owned Companies in the U.S. consecutively for the past eight years.

In 2019, alongside Academy Award-winning actress Viola Davis, Ms. Newhouse founded ShoulderUp, a nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting and supporting women on their entrepreneurial journeys. Ms. Newhouse received her A.A. in Liberal Arts Science from Saint Leo College and her Honorary Doctor of Philosophy from CICA International University.

Since 1995, Robert Kavner has been an independent venture capital investor focusing on investments in technology companies. From January 1996 through December 1998, Mr. Kavner served as president and chief executive officer of On Command Corporation, a provider of on-demand video systems for the hospitality industry. From 1984 to 1995, Mr. Kavner held several senior management positions at AT&T, including senior vice president, chief financial officer and chief executive officer of Multimedia Products and Services Group and chairman of AT&T Venture Capital Group. Mr. Kavner also served as a member of AT&T’s executive committee. Prior to joining AT&T, Mr. Kavner was a partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Kavner currently serves on the boards of directors of a number of privately-held companies, including several early stage companies. He has previously served on the board of directors of a number of public companies, including serving as chairman of Earthlink Networks, CitySearch, Overture, and Pandora Media, and as a member of the boards of Sun Microsystems, Philips Telecommunications, Fleet Bank of Boston, Tandem Computers, and Duracell International. Mr. Kavner received a B.B.A. from Adelphi University and attended the Advanced Management Program at the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College.

Ms. Abrams serves as the chief executive officer of Sage Works Production, Inc. In addition, Ms. Abrams has served as the founder and executive director of Southern Economic Advancement Project since 2019. From 2007 to 2017, Ms. Abrams served as a State Representative of the Georgia General Assembly and as the minority leader from 2011 to 2017. She has been the chief executive officer of Sage Works, LLC since September 2002. She previously served as the chief executive officer of the Third Sector Development from August 1998 until March 2019, as Senior Vice President of NOWaccount Network Corporation from 2010 to 2016. Ms. Abrams received a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Spelman College, a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Texas Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, and a J.D. from Yale University.

Barbara J. Burger was mostly recently the Vice President, Innovation at Chevron and President of Chevron Technology Ventures from June 2013 to April 2022. Previously, Dr. Burger held a number of management positions at Chevron across International Marketing, Chemicals, Technology Marketing, Lubricants, Ventures, and Innovation. Dr. Burger has also held a wide range of civic and industrial leadership governing board and advisory council positions including the MIT Energy Initiative, Houston Exponential, Houston Symphony Society, Oil and Gas Climate Initiative Climate Investment LLP, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Greentown Houston, Activate, and Rice University’s Corporate Innovation Practice. Dr. Burger has spent most of her career focused on the big challenges in energy transition, equity, and access to education. She has been recently named to Emerald Technology Ventures Advisory Council and the Greentown Labs Board of Directors. Dr. Burger is an active alumnus of the University of Rochester where she serves on the Board of Trustees and chairs the River Campus Libraries National Council. She also established the Barbara J. Burger Endowed Scholarship in the Sciences and founded the Barbara J. Burger iZone, where students generate, refine, and communicate ideas for social, cultural, community and economic impact. At the California Institute of Technology, Dr. Burger supports graduate women in chemistry and serves on the Strategic Advisory Board for the Resnick Sustainability Institute. Dr. Burger holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Rochester, a PhD degree in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, and an MBA degree in finance, with academic honors, from the University of California, Berkeley.

Ms. Obiaya is Heliogen's Chief Executive Officer. She joined Heliogen in December 2021 as Chief Financial Officer and has worked closely with the Company’s management team to develop its solar energy and thermal storage systems technology. Prior to joining Heliogen, Ms. Obiaya served as the chief financial officer and head of strategy for Bechtel Energy’s multi-billion-dollar, global energy business unit from 2017 to 2021. She also held various leadership roles at Bechtel in finance, strategy, and project development, investment, and execution from 2010 to 2017. Prior to Bechtel, Ms. Obiaya worked on renewable energy projects in Kenya and India from 2008 to 2009. Ms. Obiaya began her career as an engineer, designing products and scaling up manufacturing processes at a multinational consumer goods company from 2004 to 2008. Ms. Obiaya graduated from MIT with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Mr. Lazarus is a recognized global business executive, with a proven track record of Board and C-suite experience and business unit leadership roles for a range of emerging and established businesses, as well as multi-country transaction advisory expertise.

He is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Chain Bridge I, a NASDAQ listed special purpose acquisition company, and is also a venture partner to Marcy Venture Partners and its portfolio companies. Mr. Lazarus joined Ernst & Young LLP in Boston as a partner in 1997 advising on acquisitions and investments for corporate and private equity clients. During his 23-year career with Ernst & Young, he served in a variety of roles, including as the Chief Operating Officer (“COO”) and Board member of Ernst & Young’s LatAm North region, where he managed internal operations and oversaw financial and operating reporting for 13 countries, as a managing partner and COO of Ernst & Young Colombia, and as the managing partner of Ernst & Young´s West Region Transactions service-line. Mr. Lazarus is a director and the chair of the Audit Committee and Compensation Committee of LatAm Logistic Properties S.R.L, a 3PL real estate developer in Costa Rica, Colombia and Peru. He is chair of the Audit Committee of the Goldman Environmental Foundation, the sponsor of the annual Goldman Environmental Prize.

Mr. Lazarus is a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW), holds a BA with honors in Economics from the University of York, England and completed the international certification of the Institute of Directors (London, England) in 2020.